Technology: Waxy weeks sup on oil slicks

Mats of natural fibres may provide emergency services with a powerful new weapon in the battle to clean up oil spills. Researchers in the US have shown that fibres from plants such as milkweed floss (Asclepias), cotton and kenaf act like sponges and are able to mop up more oil than polypropylene matting, a synthetic material widely used in oil emergencies.

'There's great potential for the milkweed fibre to be used as a sorbent because it absorbs so much more than polypropylene matting and is biodegradable,' says Rinn Cloud of the Department of Clothing and Textiles at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. 'Milkweed absorbs 40 grams of light crude oil per gram of fibre, compared with 10 grams per gram of polypropylene.'

Cloud worked with Hyung-Min Chol of the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the pair report their results in ...

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